Tag: Munch 5-a-Day »

In an age of fast food, saturated fats, artificial sweeteners, and Olestra, it is easy to lose track of what we are putting into our bodies. After all, why would you bother making a run to the grocery store for fruits and vegetables, when it would much quicker to hit up your local McDonalds and order up a Big Mac, with a large fry and fruit smoothie? As much as I would like to think that this tropical flavored slurry might count as a serving of fruit and the tub of french fries a vegetable, I know that it is really doing more harm than benefit.

The question becomes how can we manage our hectic lifestyles and still keep a firm grasp on what were are devouring? Munch 5-a-day, a recent addition to the App Store, looks to address this issue, by providing an easy method to record intake stats, while motivating you to bring a better balance to your diet:

By using Munch 5-a-Day, users can record and track their fruit and vegetable intake, challenge themselves to eat more fruit and veg, and improve their diet. Fruit and veg consumption can be recorded by simply tapping fruit and veg icons on the app’s home screen each time the user eats a portion of fruit or veg. Each ‘munch’ is recorded in the goal bar on the home screen, showing the user’s progress over that day. The remaining munches needed to meet the daily target are also displayed on the app icon on the springboard.

Users can set their daily munch goal from the app’s Goal Screen, and receive a congratulations message as soon as the goal is met. By tilting the phone 90 degrees, users will be able to see graphs of their fruit and veg consumption over the past 7 or 30 days, helping people to keep track of what they are eating. Integrated social networking functionality also allows users to share their success with friends by posting colourful messages and graphs on Twitter and Facebook, encouraging others to eat more fruit and veg and adopt a healthier diet. -- via Munch5aday.com

Using a steady diet of positive reinforcement and a user-friendly interface, this app hopes to change the lives of so many for the better. Integrating Facebook with the application is another stroke of genius, because it adds elements of peer pressure into the mix. If I knew that my successes and failures were being shared with the entire world, I would be more inclined to participate as well. Now if only they could make celery taste better...